“We might use magic, but we’re not afraid of technology here. Other than cell phones. No matter what you do, there’s just no service. Anyway, your card is everything. How you enter your room, how you get your meals, and how you get your weekly allowance.”
“Oh, I’m sure that won’t be a concern for me,” I said. “Nobody’s paying me an allowance.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “What do you mean, nobody?”
“I’m a scholarship kid. They’re forcing me to go here. Feel free to engage in the poor kid bullying now.”
His brow furrowed. “The Academy doesn’t really do scholarships.”
I thought back to the conversation with the dean. He distinctly told me I had a scholarship. Maybe they didn’t make it obvious to others. I wasn’t sure what to say.
“You might want to keep that to yourself,” Luka said. “This is a very exclusive school. Nearly impossible to get accepted into. People spend their whole lives saving money to send their kids here and there is no shortage of applicants.”
If it was that exclusive, what the fuck was I doing here? Luka’s expression told me I needed to take this warning seriously so I didn’t ask any questions. “Thanks for the advice. Maybe I mis-heard Dr. Green.”
“I’m sure you did.” He tipped the envelope and pulled out the contents. He handed me the card. “You’ll need this to get into your room.”
He looked at the paperwork, then back up at me, his brow furrowed. “I thought for sure you were a mage. Your magic feels like mage magic.”
“I am,” I said. “At least that’s what they said when they arrested me.”
“When they arrested you?” Luka cocked a skeptical eyebrow. “Never met a felon before.”
“Felon’s a strong word. It was self defense,” I said.
“Curious,” he said.
My brow furrowed.Who the fuck uses that word?“What’scurious?”
“You’re in the dungeon. It’s not the usual dorm for mages. Most of them are in the tower.”
“Dungeon? No, thanks.” Though, come to think of it, a tower didn’t sound much better. Both were used as ways to trap damsels in distress, weren’t they? And though I’d never considered myself a damsel before, I was certainly being held against my will. This was going to be a long stay. “Wait, if mages are in the tower, what is in the dungeon?”
“Shifters,” he said.
“Shifters,” I repeated. “Like people who can turn into other things?”
“Yeah, that’s the way shifters work.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re new to all this, aren’t you?”
“How can you tell?” I asked.
He shook his head. “You’re going to have to learn fast or you’re going to be eaten alive.”